Religious Education

Staffing of the department

Educational philosophy/Aims of the curriculum

At St Ursula’s Religious Education is “the core of the curriculum". As a Catholic School it is our mission to educate the whole person since RE is concerned not only with intellectual knowledge but also emotional and affective learning. Through RE lessons, students come to a deeper knowledge, understanding and love of the Word of God as revealed in Scriptures and the teaching of the Church.

RE provides our students with the opportunity to model, promote and live out our Catholic Ethos and the values of ‘Serviam’ by encouraging religious growth and spiritual development.

The Department aims to ensure that all students are stimulated and challenged to learn about, and learn from, Catholic Christianity through lively and thorough analysis of Christian theology, morality and practice. Students are given the opportunity to reflect on their own lives, beliefs and key moral dilemmas in society. Without religious education, pupils would be deprived of an essential element of their formation and personal development, which helps them to synthesise faith and culture.

Our aim is to support our students to be religiously literate young women able to engage in a modern, multi-cultural society where issues of religious understanding and tolerance are more important than ever. The RE department continually strives to provide students with outstanding teaching and learning where pupils will be challenged to reflect on their own experiences and work towards achieving academic excellence.

KS4 curriculum

As a Catholic School, GCSE RE is compulsory for all our students. We currently study the newly developed AQA Spec B which consists of written exams in two papers:

Paper 1 – Catholic Christianity; this will make up 50% of their overall GCSE grade.

Paper 2 – Perspectives on Faith -Judaism and Ethical Themes; both elements total 25% each and will make up the remaining 50% of their overall GCSE grade.